Authority Patterns
All patterns
Authority revocation
Systems require mechanisms to withdraw decision authority when conditions change.
Decision quorum
Some decisions require collective authority where resolution emerges only when a threshold of actors agree.
Authority lease
Temporary authority can be leased to actors closest to the work without permanently restructuring governance.
Authority proxy
Authority can be temporarily delegated through proxy roles when direct ownership is impractical.
Escalation chain
Escalation paths behave like linked objects carrying unresolved decisions through authority levels.
Responsibility without authority as structural debt
Assigning responsibility without decision authority creates systemic tension and delivery instability.
Authority follows the shape of the decision
Authority functions best when it is assigned according to decision type rather than organisational hierarchy.
Authority behaves like a type system
Authority boundaries function like type systems preventing invalid decisions from entering the system.